Are you functioning on auto-pilot?

"Auto-pilot is a function without a desire or will to function," said Antonio Alonzo, a 17-year old senior at Mandeville High School. Many teenagers including myself are asking ourselves just that specific question -- are we living out lives on auto-pilot? I've asked many students this same question, and many say that a lot of the time they feel that they're going through the motions without actually feeling the weight of them. Ken Ourso, my last year's Sociology teacher happens to be my American History teacher at Mandeville High School this year. Mr. Ourso has said many times, "The government makes you want to be a parrot, telling you what to do without your input, whereas everyone should be like a soaring eagle, flying free, and making your own decisions." A related proverb that Antonio pointed out is, "If you don't make your own plan, you'll become part of someone else." --Terrance McKenna.

We kids are living a life without consent of what we want to do. We are "living" by other standards then our own, and that to me is not truly living our own lives, but "living" by how others want us to live.

Words spoken by other peers seem so irrelevant when they have nothing to support their reasoning particularly when they show lack of complete thought, no better yet, lack any trace of their own individualism. It is disappointing to me when my friends' and peers' trains of thought are not original but are words mimicked from thoughts of the people around them.

I would like to meet the person who started this train of thought, because they are the individual, and they have the reasoning behind the words that seem to be so irrelevant. Why would someone repeat words and sound like a parrot when they do not even seem to grasp the ideas behind the concepts they echo -- do they feel superior? Are they seeking approval and praise from the other parrots when repeating thoughts that they cannot support with logic, experience or their reasoning? I think we are selling ourselves short.

Everyone has potential; the world has potential. The serial killers, mentally challenged, or the teenager who doesn't know what to do what their life yet or doesn't yet fully understand all the information thrown at him or her -- we all have potential. Rating us as simply by virtue of our IQ is a joke, because you can't evaluate one's complete intellectual capacity based on testing alone. What about thte incredible musical prodigies that may be autistic or otherwise challenged? Are they not in some way superior then other "normally functioning" people?

People need to manifest their own opinions and be responsible for not falling into auto-pilot types of thought patterns. If individualism was more widely encouraged, I believe, the world would be a better place and that solutions to problems of long standing would find new resolution.